MIT Technology Review - diseasehttp://www.technologyreview.com/tagged/disease/
enClimate Change: Why the Tropical Poor Will Suffer Mosthttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/538586/climate-change-why-the-tropical-poor-will-suffer-most/
<p>As the Pope calls for action on climate change, a growing body of evidence shows that low-latitude countries will feel the heaviest effects of global warming.</p><p>In his <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/15/pope-francis-destruction-ecosystem-leaked-encyclical" target="_blank">encyclical on climate change</a>, leaked earlier this week and scheduled to be released on Thursday, Pope Francis remarks that the most severe impacts of climate change will likely fall on those least able to withstand them: the poor. </p>Wed, 17 Jun 2015 21:36:00 +0000juniper.friedman538586 at http://www.technologyreview.comChallenges Remain for Technologies to Fight Ebolahttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/529671/challenges-remain-for-technologies-to-fight-ebola/
<p>Efforts to contain Ebola in West Africa suffer from a lack of effective tools to treat and prevent the disease, although several are in development.</p>Wed, 06 Aug 2014 04:00:00 +0000juniper.friedman529671 at http://www.technologyreview.comEradicating Aging Cells Could Prevent Diseasehttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/426009/eradicating-aging-cells-could-prevent-disease/
<p>Mice lacking these cells were stronger and had no cataracts.</p><p>For more than a decade, researchers have believed that aging cells damage the tissue around them, and that this damage underlies a number of age-related disorders. Now a new study in mice appears to confirm this. The study shows that selectively eliminating those aging, or “senescent,” cells, could help prevent the onset of everything from muscle loss to cataracts.</p>Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices426009 at http://www.technologyreview.com23andMe Offers Free Genetic Tests to African Americanshttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/424943/23andme-offers-free-genetic-tests-to-african-americans/
<p>Studies show that the genetic risk of disease varies between different ethnic groups, and data on some groups is lacking.</p><p>To date, research into the genetic cause of disease has been overwhelmingly white. </p>Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices424943 at http://www.technologyreview.comMassive Project to Study the Link between Genetics and Healthhttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/424804/massive-project-to-study-the-link-between-genetics-and-health/
<p>Kaiser Permanente has compiled the genetic and medical data of 100,000 of its members.</p><p>Most health insurers are wary of genetics because, in most cases, it’s not yet clear how a particular genetic variation influences an individual’s health, or whether it should affect their care. </p>Tue, 26 Jul 2011 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices424804 at http://www.technologyreview.comKeeping Neurons Alive in Parkinson's Patientshttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/424197/keeping-neurons-alive-in-parkinsons-patients/
<p>An upcoming clinical trial will attempt to solve problems that have plagued one potentially promising treatment.</p><p>A molecule that has long been a source of hope as a potential Parkinson’s disease therapy will get a new chance to show its benefit. A team led by <a href="http://neurosurgery.ucsf.edu/bankiewicz/" target="_blank">Krystof Bankiewicz</a> at the University of California, San Francisco, plans a clinical trial of an experimental gene therapy using glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a protein that helps keep neurons alive. The team is in the final stages of gaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and hopes its trial can address issues that marred previous trials.</p>Mon, 06 Jun 2011 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices424197 at http://www.technologyreview.comA Vaccine to Attack Cancer Earlyhttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/423915/a-vaccine-to-attack-cancer-early/
<p>A startup is developing the first vaccine to target patients before they develop cancer.</p><p>Most cancer vaccines are intended to rally a patient’s immune system to fight cancers that have already progressed. But the startup company OncoPep, based in North Andover, Massachusetts, is developing a vaccine designed to prevent one kind of cancer—multiple myeloma—by treating patients who have only a precursor of the disease. </p>Wed, 04 May 2011 04:00:00 +0000digitalservices423915 at http://www.technologyreview.comSpotting Alzheimer's Disease Earlyhttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/422450/spotting-alzheimers-disease-early/
<p>An experimental tracer detects signs of the disorder in living patients.</p><p>A new molecular dye might eventually help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease much earlier, which could prove vital to developing effective treatments and preventative measures. The molecule binds to amyloid plaques, the neurological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, and can be detected in the living human brain with PET imaging. Previously, the only definitive way to detect amyloid in the brain, and hence diagnose the disease, was via an autopsy.</p>Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:00:00 +0000digitalservices422450 at http://www.technologyreview.comConsumer Genetic Tests Have Little Impacthttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/422373/consumer-genetic-tests-have-little-impact/
<p>They lead people neither to make healthier lifestyle choices nor to order more medical tests.</p><p>Ever since direct-to-consumer genetic tests—which analyze a set of genetic markers across an individual’s genome in order to predict his or her risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, prostate cancer, and other common diseases—became available <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/business/19856/">in 2007</a>, experts have debated the consequences. The hope was that the tests would encourage consumers take steps to avoid the maladies for which they were predicted to be at high risk. But skeptics doubted that people would respond differently to genetic-risk information than they do to other, better validated measures, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels. </p>Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000digitalservices422373 at http://www.technologyreview.comAnalyzing the Unborn Genomehttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/421948/analyzing-the-unborn-genome/
<p>Mapping the genome of a fetus from its mother’s blood could mean less risky screening for prenatal diseases.</p><p>A way of mapping the genome of an unborn child using DNA from the mother’s blood shows potential for broad genetic testing without risk to the fetus. While the technique is too expensive to be put into practice now, the research is important because it shows that the fetus’s entire genome is present in the mother’s blood.</p>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0000digitalservices421948 at http://www.technologyreview.com